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April 24, 2007
In today's edition of projo SoxTalk, baseball writer Joe McDonald looks ahead to tonight's Roy Halladay-Julian Tavarez matchup, and talks about two people he knows well: Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester. While Pedroia appears to be breaking out of his slump in Boston, Lester is getting ready to start tomorrow afternoon in Rochester, N.Y., for the PawSox. Click here to listen to the full audio file. In the meantime, here are some excerpts of McDonald's conversation with sports editor Art Martone:
On Pedroia: "He is one of the hardest workers that the Red Sox have, and Terry Francona continually talks about that work ethic. I got to the ballpark really early yesterday and I went down to the field, and he was taking some extra batting practice. And then he came over and just sat in the dugout and just talked with everybody around, whether it was media members or red sox personnel, and he was joking -- and you could just tell that he had his confidence back. And that's what I saw with him last year, when he was with the Pawtucket Red Sox.
On how the Red Sox will handle Lester: "I think what they are going to do, at least what people in the organization are telling me, is that he will start on Wednesday, and then he'll start again next Tuesday at McCoy, and that is when his rehab will end. And then they'll have to make a decision. They'll have to either assign him to Pawtucket or keep him up in Boston, most likely in the bullpen for now. But I wouldn't be surprised if he stays a little longer in Pawtucket. After next week's start they'll probably assign him to Pawtucket and just kind of see how he fits into that rotation. I know his pitch count tomorrow -- Wednesday -- is supposed to be about 80-85, which is a good sign. It's up from the start of the season, when he was in Greenville.
By the way, we'll have updates tomorrow on the blog from Lester's start in Rochester.
Posted by Mike McDermott 
at 11:23 AM to Martone
, McDonald
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